A battle for 3rd place in the AJHL South division will be the Okotoks Oilers last home game of the regular season as they take on the Drumheller Dragons this Friday night.
Last time out
The Okotoks Oilers dropped to 34-21-1-2 after a 4-2 loss to the Brook Bandits in Brooks. The Bandits took a 1-0 lead 4 minutes in thanks to Hunter Wallace.
The Bandits were not done there. A powerplay goal late in the period by Aiden Fink made it 2-0. Oilers forward Ty Yoder scored his 15th of the year with less than a minute to go to cut the lead down to just 1 through the first 20 minutes.
Oilers came out strong in the second with Jackson Rowland scoring his 7th goal of the year tying it at 2. However Aiden Fink collected his second goal of the game and a powerplay assist on Hudson Malinoski’s 14th goal of the year. Ethan Barwick shut the door for the Bandits leading them to the win.
Parker Sawka played unreal making 42 saves on the night with Ty Yoder collecting a 2 point night.
For the Dragons they are coming off a commanding 4-1 win over the Calgary Canucks last Tuesday in Calgary.
Ty Whitford lead the way offensively with 1 goal and 2 assists on the night. Garrett Fuller backstopped the Dragons to their 31st win of the year making 29 saves.
The Dragons penalty kill although tested went a perfect 5/5 on the game with the powerplay going 1/1.
Previous matchups
The Oilers are 2-2 against the Dragons this year. Ty Yoder in those 4 games has 3 goals, Brett Huxley is a point per game against the Dragons with 2 goals and 2 assists. Sam Simard has played in 3 of the matchups and has 4 goals and 5 total points for the Dragons.
The Dragons are one of the more penalized teams in the league averaging over 22 minutes a game in penalties meanwhile the Oilers average 17.7 minutes a game. The Dragons sit near the basement when it comes to penalty kill percentage with 75.6% success rate on the penalty kill.
The Oilers penalty kill still sits 4th in the AJHL with an effectiveness rate of 83.7%. The story is reversed when it comes to powerplays however as the Dragons are 5th in the AJHL with a 20.9% powerplay percentage, the Oilers sit 11th with a 16.7% powerplay percentage.
Players to watch
For the Oilers Ty Yoder is riding a 5 game point streak where he has 8 points in that span, Jackson Rowland and Logan Magowan are also on point streaks of 3 games each.
For the Dragons Ty Daneault sits 4th in the league with 36 goals in 51 games and Ty Whitford had a 3 point game in their last outing.
Standings
The Oilers sit 3 points ahead of the Dragons in the AJHL South division with 71 points. A win for the Oilers solidifies a 3rd place finish in the division. The Oilers sit 6th in the entire AJHL meanwhile the Dragons are 8th in the league. The Oilers are 4-6 in their last 10 games and the Dragons 4-5-1 in their last 10 games.
Tickets
Puck drop is at 7 PM tonight!
Get your tickets at https://tickets.okotoksoilers.ca/
You can also wat
Make sure to get some 50/50 tickets for tonight’s game at 240 vs Drumheller Mar 3 – 5050Central
By: Travis Neil https://twitter.com/TravisNeil7